Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan (1st ODI)

[Flakeman]

ZBC is broadcasting it live

Any predictions lads?

Without Williams and Hammy I'm going to say 4-1 to them.

With Williams and Hammy and possibly Chisoro I would have called it at 2-2 going into the 5th. Then uncallable. But I predict an annoying looking team sheet at 9:30 tomorrow.

[zimbofan88]

You are right, without Williams and Hami we look vulnerable. We badly need Williams, he scored a hundred against NZ last year when he was sick. He isn't badly injured right now, and if he is willing to play we must get him in the team. We need Hami and Raza at the top and PJ should bat at 7 after Mire. Chigs, Waller, Ngarava shouldn't play at all. We can gamble Mumba in few of the matches, and N Waller can play as a bowling all-rounder. With the right squad we might win 3-2, but if we don't play key players we are looking for 4-1 loss.

[Kriterion_BD]

I'll be disappointed if my Afghan cousins don't win this 4-1 at the least. After a series of 3-2 results, they need to go one better.

[Jemisi]

Bring on the pain!

[jaybro]

Zimbabwe to win a rain effected series 2-1 with a controversial D:L match deciding the series .....

As for today's game I can't see Hami or Willy playing and who knows about Mire ....

Moor
Musakanda
Ervine
Raza
Burl
Malcolm Waller / Mire
Chigs
Cremer
Tiripano
Chatara
Mpofu

Not my side but who I think they'll go with .....

[zimbofan88]

Zimbabwe to win a rain effected series 2-1 with a controversial D:L match deciding the series .....

As for today's game I can't see Hami or Willy playing and who knows about Mire ....

Moor
Musakanda
Ervine
Raza
Burl
Malcolm Waller / Mire
Chigs
Cremer
Tiripano
Chatara
Mpofu

Not my side but who I think they'll go with .....

You might get that squad right. From that list only Ervine and Burl can bat, rest are inconsistent or out of form. Raza has looked OK in his last few innings, so he also has a big responsibility in the middle order. Afghanistan has a quality bowling attack, Zadran can topple our weak top order and young Rashid Khan,Mirwaris and Nabi can apply lots of pressure to our batting. Our bowling also looks slim. We should have someone like Vitori and Chisoro there. Afghanistan is going to be tough to beat, specially now they have so many good players. Rather than giving up or expecting weather to save us,Heath Streak should try out some random new things like how he did in last tri-series. Like make N Waller play as an all-rounder, Mire to open along with Musakanda, drop PJ and play Waller as Wicketkeeper,Mumba to share the ball with Chatara etc.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Bring on the pain!

[jaybro]

The one thing in our favour is our bowling lineup has more attacking options than previous series against Afghanistan and if we look back at the last 10 matches against them the ones we were successful in we struck with early wickets. The series in Bulawayo our attack was very defensive, Panyangara - Jongwe - Chisoro - Wellington, All defensive bowlers ! Raza and Willy were our best attacking options. In the following series it was much of the same with Muzarabani - Chisoro - Wellington - Jongwe. At least we had Cremer and Madziva played really well in games 3 & 4 taking early wickets. Shahzad and Noor Ali are very important to Afghanistan if they get a good start it gives guys like Nabi and Shenwari the freedom to go hard in the middle. But if we strike early it exposes them to the new ball .....

With Chatara leading the attack and Cremer bowling his leggies we have 2 genuine wicket takers, now if we throw in someone like Mumba or Ngarava who may be a little expensive but are also wicket takers we could have 3 strike bowlers. Throw in Donnie to keep it tight and bowl at the death we might actually have a bowling lineup to pressure these guys un like previous series .....

I really hope we don't see Mpofu, honestly when was the last time Bobby took 2 wickets with the new ball ?? He's just too defensive and so have Zimbabwe been for too long .....

[Mueddie28]

Zimbabwe to win a rain effected series 2-1 with a controversial D:L match deciding the series .....

As for today's game I can't see Hami or Willy playing and who knows about Mire ....

How knows which Chigs, M Waller- or Raza shows up...

Moor
Musakanda
Ervine
Raza
Burl
Malcolm Waller / Mire
Chigs
Cremer
Tiripano
Chatara
Mpofu

Not my side but who I think they'll go with .....

[Black Mamba]

This Zimbabwe Team Might Rock by winning the sereis

### It might be all over for Masakadza, Williams, Chibhabha in shorter format from now

A great chance for the youths to shut the door of the underperformers and as a result more to come in future